The world of the state, the field on which men distinguished themselves in politics and on the battlefield, saw the deepest divisions between gender roles. For women, to whom a political role in the state and public self-expression were legally closed, honor was earned by silently fulfilling the cultural ideal of matrona, producing citizens and exemplifying the feminine virtues of chastity and modesty, strictures which lower-class women experienced to a lesser degree. In no case were women permitted to vote or to hold public office, with the exception of the Vestals, whose virginity and care of the state hearth assured the public well-being. However, history offers instances of women, individually or in groups, who circumvented or transgressed these expectations, sometimes receiving condemnation and punishment, as in the case of Tarpeia, and at other times earning male encouragement and accommodation, as in the case of the women who demonstrated against the Oppian Law of 215 BCE, which was repealed despite the opposition of conservatives like Cato. For much of Republican history adult women, considered weak and vulnerable, lived under a form of tutela, or guardianship, that was provided all of their lives by their paterfamilias or husband, or, in the absence of these, a male kinsman or surrogate. However, beginning with the Second Punic war, conditions changed radically. Women whose husbands were killed or away for long periods of time on campaign were left in control of the home and family property. The expansion of empire that followed brought an increase of wealth, some of which found its way into dowries. The deadly struggles of the last century of the Republic, which implicated women as well as men, and upper-class women's preference for marriage sine manu (without the transfer of control from father to husband) brought about changed attitudes toward women's capacities and greater tolerance for women's autonomy. Augustan legislation in the late 1st century BCE, which was aimed at strengthening the family and morals, removed citizen women who had borne at least three children (for freedwomen at least four) from legal guardianship by males. Augustus' wife Livia was publicly acclaimed and given special privileges as a model of the traditional materfamilias while she assumed a new public presence for women as benefactor and representative to the gods. Under the Empire, women of the imperial family were frequently used to symbolize civic virtues, were sometimes awarded state titles, and occasionally even exercised real, though not legally sanctioned, power. On concordia in imperial marriage see Dickison in Dickison & Hallett (200); on power see Bauman (1992), Boatwright (2021) and Burns (2007; on public honorific statues for women see Flory (1993) in the Bibliography; see also Images of State below.

Text-Commentaries	Additional Readings
Quintus Horatius Flaccus, Carmina 3.6.17-32: corruption within	See the Latin reader The Worlds of Roman Women for the following texts:
Cornelius Tacitus, Annales 1.3-6: Livia	Gaius, Institutiones 1.144-145, 148-150: tutela
Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita I.34, 39, 41: Queen Tanaquil	T. Livius, Ab Urbe Condita 1.39, 41 (excerpts): Tanaquil
P. Vergilius Maro, Aeneis 7.803-817: Camilla	T. Livius, Ab Urbe Condita 1.47-48 (excerpts): Tullia minor.
Cornelius Tacitus, Annales 14.34-5: Boudica	T. Livius, Ab Urbe Condita 39.9-10 (excerpts): Hispala Faecenia
Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita I.11.5-9: Tarpeia	T. Livius, Ab Urbe Condita 2.40: Veturia
Pseudo-Seneca, Octavia 100-114: Claudia Octavia	P. Ovidius Naso, Fasti 4.293-328, 343-344: Claudia Quinta
Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita I.11.1-2: Hersilia	CIL 6.492, Dedicatory Inscription on an Altar: Claudia Syntyche
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Philippica II: Fulvia	C. Sallustius Crispus, Bellum Catilinae 24-25 (excerpts): Sempronia
Cornelius Tacitus, Annales II.34, IV.21, 22: Urgulania	C. Cornelius Tacitus, Annales 1.33, 40, 69 (excerpts): Agrippina maior
Cornelius Tacitus, Annales XIII.32: Pomponia Graecina	See De Feminis Romanis at Diotima for the following online Latin texts:
Quintus Horatius Flaccus, Carmina I.37: Cleopatra	Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita I. 8-13: Rape of the Sabine Women
Inscriptions	Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita I. 57-60: Rape of Lucretia
Honorary for Marcia Aurelia Ceionia Demetrias	P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses VIII.51-66: Scylla
	C. Plinius Secundus, Maior, Naturalis Historia 34.25-31: Statues of women

REPUBLIC

Roman She-Wolf (lupa) with suckling twins Romulus and Remus. Silver didrachem. 269-6 BE. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
Rape of the Sabine Women: Republican denarius issued by the moneyer L. Titurius Sabinus; inscribed L[uci] TITVRI. Minted at Rome, 89 BCE. Rome, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (National Museums).
Tarpeia (c. 750 BCE), legendary daughter of the commander of the Capitol, Vestal?
- Denarius showing her crushed by the shields of the invading Sabines. Inscribed: L[uci] TITVRI (moneyer L. Titurius Sabinus) minted at Rome, 89 BCE. Rome, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (National Museums).
- Denarius (reverse) issued by Augustus. She holds up her hands in fright, covered in Sabine shields to her waist. The inscription commemorates the moneyer P. Petronius Turpilianus, triumvir of the Augustan mint, whose family claimed descent from the Sabines. Minted at Rome, 19 BCE. Berlin, Pergamon Museum.
Fulvia (80-40 BCE), wife of Publius Clodius Pulcher, Gaius Scribonius Curio, and Mark Antony
- Coin portrait on an aureus in the guise of winged Victory (similar to portraits of her that appeared on coins from Eumachia, a Phrygian city of which she was patron); issued by the moneyer C. Numonius Vaala. Minted at Rome, c. 41 BCE. Rome, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (National Museums).
- Coin portrait on a silver quinarius minted by Mark Antony at Lyons, c. 43-42 BCE. Winged Victory has the hairstyle and features of Antony's wife Fulvia. Inscribed: III VIR R[ei] P[ublicae] C[onstituendae] (Triumvir for the Regulation of the Republic). Copenhagen, National Museum.
- Portrait head in marble; her features and hairstyle of side braids and bun resemble the coin portraits above. Rome, late Republic. Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Museum.
Octavia (69 - 11 BCE), sister of Augustus, wife of Mark Antony, mother of Marcellus (d. 40 BCE)
- Coin portrait on the reverse of an aureus of Antony with her characteristic hairdo. 38 BCE. NY Metropolitan Museum of Art. Another, dating from c. 36-35 BCE. Berlin, Pergamon Museum.
- Portrait head in marble (side). Augustan Age. Rome, Palazzo Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (National Museums).
- Coin portrait in bronze of Octavia and Mark Antony; another on a silver cistophorus minted by Antony in Ephesus, 39 BCE, inscribed: M[arcus] ANTONIVS IMP[erator] CO[n]S[ul] DESIG[natus] ITER ET TERT[ius]. Copenhagen, National Museum.
- Coin portrait of a bust of Octavia above a cista mystica flanked by snakes; reverse of a silver cistophorus minted by Mark Antony, 39 BCE, Ephesus mint. Inscribed: IIIVIR R(ei) P(ublicae) C(onstituendae) in reference to the Second Triumvirate. Chicago, Art Institute.
- Full-length statue of a draped and veiled figure with the portrait head of Octavia. Augustan period. Naples, Archaeological Museum.
Cleopatra VII (69-30 BCE), Queen of Egypt, wife of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony
- Portrait head in marble with a melon hairstyle, bun at the neck and a broad diadem perhaps with the uraeus in front (side 1, side 2: see coins minted at Ascalon and Alexandria). Roman, found at the Villa of the Quintilii on the Via Appia. Rome, Gregoriano Profano, Vatican Museums.
- Portrait Head (side) originally identified as Cleopatra VII herself; now thought to be a woman of the queen's entourage who accompanied her to Rome from 46-44 BCE. The hairstyle is not the same as Cleopatra's on coins, and there is no royal diadem. London, British Museum.
- Coin portrait on a silver coin of the young Cleopatra. 51-30 BCE. Oxford, Ashmolean.
- Coin portrait on a silver tetradrachm of the young Cleopatra, shown in the style of earlier Hellenistic queens, with a band-style diadem; she wears the melon hairstyle. Minted at Ascalon, 50/49 BCE. London, British Museum.
- Coin portrait on a bronze drachma minted by Cleopatra with a youthful head, melon hairstyle and band-style diadem. Alexandria, 51-30 BCE. Glasgow, Hunterian Museum.
- Coin portrait in bronze issued by her in Cyprus c. 35 BCE, with her infant Caesarion, claimed to be the son of Julius Caesar. London, British Museum.
- Coin portrait on a silver tetradrachm issued by her with a Greek inscription: Queen Cleopatra, Younger Goddess (another in the Copenhagen National Museum); Antony appears on the reverse with a Greek inscription: Antony Imperator for the third time and Triumvir. Minted c. 36-34 BCE, possibly in Syria. Berlin, Pergamon Museum.
- Coin portrait on a denarius of Antony with a ship's prow in front, inscribed: CLEOPATRAE REGINAE REGVM FILIORVM REGVM (for Cleopatra, queen of kings and of the sons of kings). 34 BCE, Alexandria. Berlin, Pergamon Museum.
- Coin portrait on a denarius of Antony inscribed as above. 34 BCE, Alexandria. Munich, Münzsammlung.
- Coin portrait on a denarius of Mark Antony, wearing a band-style diadem; a ship's prow appears in front of her, referring to her Egyptian fleet. 32 BCE. Chciago, Art Institute.
- Coin portrait in silver. Copenhagen, National Museum.
- Cameo portrait with Antony in the Hellenistic style. Berlin, Altes Museum.
- Full-size statue allegedly found on the Via Cassia near the so-called Tomba di Nerone. Rome, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican Museums.
- Portrait head in marble, she wears a melon hairstyle with a bun and a broad diadem (side view). From a private villa on the Via Appia, 40-30 BCE. Berlin, Altes Museum.

IMPERIAL WOMEN

: portrayed in the traditional costume of the matrona, they expressed their individuality through their hairstyles.

Livia Drusilla (58 BCE-29 CE); renamed Julia Augusta (in 14 CE); wife of Augustus, mother of Tiberius
- Gilded glass gem: yoked (jugate) heads of Augustus and Livia. Roman, c. 5-14 CE. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
- Onyx cameo: crowned Augusta (close-up) holding the bust of the deified Augustus as priestess of his cult. Roman, after 14 CE. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
- Portrait: basalt head (side view) with severe nodus hairstyle. Roman, last quarter of the first century BCE. Paris, Louvre Museum.
- Portrait: black marble head (side view); the carved hair indicates it originally had a diadem, thus dating it to the time of Claudius, who deified his grandmother. Roman, c. 50 CE. Amsterdam, Allard Pierson Museum.
- Veiled and garlanded figure, probably Livia, standing beside Agrippa on the Ara Pacis. Rome, 13 BCE.
- Portrait statue marble, veiled, holding a shuttle, symbolic of her devotion to the traditional duties of the Roman matrona, wrapped in her palla, wearing the long stola and her distinctive nodus hairstyle (detail). Rome, 20-10 BCE. Capitoline Museum.
- Statue: life-size (close-up), with attributes of Ceres (floral crown, wheat sheaves, cornucopia). Roman, Tiberian era. Paris, Louvre Museum.
- Coin portrait (brass dupondius) of Claudius, with Livia (deified in 41 CE) as Ceres (close-up), seated on a throne holding ears of grain and a torch. Roman, 41-50 CE. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
- Bronze statue over lifesize. She stands, veiled and draped, with arms outstretched. Before 79 CE. From Herculaneum theater. Naples Archaeological Museum.
Julia (39 BCE-15 CE), daughter of Augustus and Scribonia, wife of Tiberius
- Coin portrait celebrating her as mother of Gaius and Lucius, both adopted by Augustus; above Julia's head the laurel crown signifies her special role in the dynastic succession (coin of Augustus 13 BCE). Berlin, Pergamon Museum. (another, Copenhagen National Museum)
- Goddess Diana (see quiver on her shoulder) with the face of Julia (coin of Augustus, 13 BCE). Berlin, Pergamon Museum.
- Portrait of a woman resembling Julia in a wig with the nodus hairstyle, adopted by Livia and imposed on Julia as well. Side view. Late first century BCE. Rome, Montemartini Museum.
Agrippina I, Vipsania (14 BCE-33 CE), daughter of Agrippa and Julia, wife of Germanicus, mother of Caligula
- Portrait bust on a bronze sestertius of Caligula, inscribed: AGRIPPINA M[arci] F[ilia] MAT[er] C[aii] CAESARIS AUGUSTI. Rome, 37-41 CE. Vienna: Kunsthistorisches Museum.
- Coin of Caligula (brass sestertius, mint of Rome, 37-41 CE) bearing his mother's portrait head and on the reverse her funeral carpentum, drawn by two mules, inscribed: S[enatus] P[opulus]Q[ue] R[omanus] MEMORIAE AGRIPPINAE Naples, National Archaeological Museum.
Antonia Minor (36 BCE-37 CE), Augusta; younger daughter of Octavia and Mark Antony, wife of Drusus the elder, mother of Claudius, grandmother of Caligula
- Portrait head in marble as a young girl (right, left). Augustan Age. Rome, Palazzo Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (National Museums).
- Portrait bust in marble as young wife of Drusus. Rome, late 1st century BC/early 1st century CE. Rome: Terme Diocleziani.
- Full-size statue in marble showing her crowned, holding a scroll (?), carrying a cornucopia and depicted as a 5th century BCE Hera. From the theater in Falerii, mid 1st century CE. Berlin, Pergamon Museum.
- Cameo portrait of the young Antonia. Julio-Claudian period. Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale.
- Cameo profile possibly of the mother of Claudius. Julio-Claudian period. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts.
- Detail from the Ara Pacis: possibly Antonia minor and Drusus. 13 BCE. Rome.
- Coin of Claudius (dupondius) honoring his mother as Augusta. Mint of Rome (41-42 CE). Naples, National Archaeological Museum.
Livilla, Julia (13 BCE-31 CE); daughter of Antonia minor and Drusus (Livia's son), wife of Tiberius' son Drusus
- Cameo portrait commemorating Livilla as Ceres upon the birth of her twin sons. She wears fillet and a wreath of grain, celebrating her fertility; one infant holds a cornucopia. Roman, 19 CE. Berlin, Altes Museum.
- Portrait head, a small fragment in green chalcedony of Caligula's sister (perhaps Drusilla). Roman, 37-39 CE. London: British Museum.
Messalina, Valeria (20-48 CE); daughter of Antonia maior, granddaughter of Octavia and Mark Antony, cousin and wife of Claudius
- Cameo profile of the empress. Before 48 CE. Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.
- Life-size statue in marble, holding her son, Britannicus (close-up). Found near Rome. c. 45 CE. Paris, Louvre Museum.
Agrippina II, Julia (15-59 CE ), Augusta; first daughter of Germanicus and Agrippina I, eldest of Caligula's three sisters, wife of Claudius, mother of Nero
- Mother and son in marble: the facial features and hairstyles identify them as Agrippina the Younger (detail) and her son Nero, wearing a toga and bulla. Roman, 1st century CE. Rome, Capitoline Museums (Palazzo Nuovo).
- Sestertius, brass, showing Caligula's three sisters in the guise of goddesses (Securitas, Concordia, Fortuna), each holding a cornucopia (Agrippina leans on a column, Drusilla holds a patera, Julia holds a rudder). The coin is inscribed with their names (AGRIPPINA, DRVSILLA, IVLIA) and below their image appear the letters S[enatus] C[onsulto] (by decree of the Senate). 37-38 CE. Tel Aviv, Israel, Eretz Israel Museum.
- Aureus with the wreathed head of his wife, the reverse of a gold coin minted by the Emperor Claudius. 50-54 CE. Rome, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (National Museums). Another aureuswith her title Augusta. Copenhagen, Glyptotek Ny Carlsberg.
- Marble bust of the empress, wearing a crown. Rome, mid 1 century CE. Oxford, Ashmolean Museum.
- Cameo portrait (sardonyx). Roman, 57-59 CE . London, British Museum.
- Statue in marble of the empress as a goddess. From the Roman theater in Caere. Vatican Museum.
Octavia, Claudia (c. 40-62 CE); daughter of Claudius and Messalina, wife of Nero
- Cameo portrait with the young Nero, perhaps newly wedded (note the clear strap marks of Octavia's stola). Roman, Julio-Claudian. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts.
Poppaea Sabina (31?-65 CE), Augusta; wife of Nero
- Portrait bust in marble (side view). Roman, c. 54-68 CE. Rome, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (National Museums).
- Statue in marble (full view) of the empress portrayed as a priestess. Roman, first half of 1st century CE. From the Temple of Hera, Olympia, Greece, Archaeological Museum.
- Coin bearing a portrait of the empress, the reverse of a tetradrachm of Nero. The Greek inscription POPPAIA SEBASTE signifies Poppaea Augusta. Mint of Alexandria. 63-64 CE.
Flavia Domitilla (1st century CE), wife of Vespasian, mother of Flavia Domitilla minor, Titus, and Domitian
- Portrait bust in marble thought to be of the empress, with a Flavian hairstyle. Rome, Vespasian Exhibit in the Colosseum.
Flavia Domitilla minor (?-69 CE), daughter of Vespasian and Domitilla maior; sister of Titus and Domitian
- Portrait bust in marble. Deified after her death. Roman, after 69 CE. Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.
Marcia Furnilla (45- ? CE), second wife of Titus, mother of Julia Flavia
- Nude statue, marble, in guise of Venus, with portrait head and elaborate hair arrangement (detail). Trajanic era. Copenhagen, NY Carlsberg Glyptotek.
- Portrait bust in marble, with elaborate hair arrangement and wearing a draped chiton (side). Late Flavian. Copenhagen, NY Carlsberg Glyptotek.
Julia Flavia / Julia Titi (65-c. 91 CE); Augusta; daughter of Titus and Marcia Furnilla; mistress of her uncle Domitian
- Portrait bust in marble, thought to be of Julia Titi. 1st century CE. Rome, (Vespasian exhibit at the Colosseum, 2009), Altemps Museum.
- Portrait head in marble (angle). Roman. 90 CE. Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.
- Portrait statue in marble, thought to be of Julia Titi as a young girl. Found on Isola Tiberina. Flavian era. Rome: Palazzo Massimo.
Domitia Longina (c. 53/5- c. 126/30 CE), Augusta; married in 71 CE to Domitian, whose murder in 96 CE she is rumored to have plotted
- Portrait head in marble. Elaborate hair arrangement with diadem. c. 96-110 CE. Copenhagen, NY Carlsberg Glyptotek.
- Portrait head of the empress (?) in Luna marble, wearing the fashionable hairstyle of the Flavian/Trajanic era. Rome: Capitoline Museum.
Plotina, Pompeia (? - 121 CE), Augusta; wife of Trajan
- Coin portraits of the divinized Plotina and Trajan on the reverse of an aureus issued by Hadrian, inscribed: DIVIS PARENTIBVS (for his deified parents). 138 CE. Rome, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (National Museums).
- Coin portrait on the reverse of a sestertius of Trajan, with her characteristic diademed hairstyle; inscribed: PLOTINA AVG[usta] IMP[eratoris] TRAIANI. 112-117 CE. Berlin, Pergamon Museum.
- Coin portrait on the reverse of an aureus of Trajan, inscribed: PLOTINA AVG[usta] IMP[eratoris] TRAIANI. 112-117 CE. Rome, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (National Museums).
- Portrait in marble. 98-117 CE. Rome, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (National Museums).
- Cameo portrait in profile of Plotinus and Trajan. c. 105-115 CE. London, British Museum.
Marciana, Ulpia (? -112 CE), Augusta; sister of Trajan, grandmother of Hadrian's wife Sabina.
- Portrait head of marble. She wears the diadem-like hair structures of the period (side view). Hadrianic period (130-138 CE). New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Portrait head of Luna marble. From the Baths at Porta Marina. 2nd century CE. Ostia: Museum.
Matidia I (68-119 CE), Augusta; daughter of Marciana and Matidius, niece of Trajan, mother of Matidia II and Sabina
- Portrait bust in marble (side) showing her characteristic hairstyle. c. 112 CE. Paris, Louvre Museum .
- Portrait head in marble with period hairstyle. 117-138 CE. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Portrait bust in marble, wearing elaborate Antonine hairdo (side view). Roman, 120 CE. London: British Museum.
Sabina, Vibia (87/8-136/7 CE), Augusta; daughter of Matidia and Sabinus, grand-niece of Trajan, bride of Hadrian (in 100 CE)
- Full-size statue of marble portraying her cloaked and modestly wearing the stola of the married woman (now returned to Italy); veiled head with a Hercules knot braid. Roman, c. 136 CE. Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
- Marble bust. Found on the Via Appia. c. 135 CE. Rome, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (National Museums).
- Portrait bust of marble with crowned head (deified?) and hair arranged like the goddess Diana (left side; right side). 130-140 CE. Rome, Capitoline Museums.
- Coin portrait on a gold aureus of Hadrian, inscribed SABINA AVGVSTA. 134 CE. Chicago Fine Arts Museum.
- Marble bust showing details of her coiffure. Roman 130-40 CE. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
- Coin portrait on a brass medallion inscribed: SABINA AVGVSTA. Roman 117-30 CE. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
- Marble relief of the apotheosis of Sabina who ascends to heaven on the shoulders of a Nike as Hadrian assists at the funeral pyre. From Arco di Portogallo. 2nd century CE. Rome, Palazzo dei Conservatori.
Faustina I, Annia Galeria (c. 94-141 CE), Augusta; wife of Antoninus Pius (110 CE)
- Wedding coin in silver, commemorating the wedding (iunctio dextrarum) of Faustina I and Antoninus Pius. Copenhagen, National Museum.
- Coin portrait on a brass medallion inscribed: DIVA AVGVSTA FAVSTINA (deified after her death). Roman, c. 138-141 CE. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
- Coin portrait on a gold aureus; inscription: DIVA FAVSTINA. Rome, 141 CE. NY Metropolitan Museum of Art; another in Copenhagen, National Museum.
- Gold ring bearing an aureus with the bust of the empress (DIVA FAVSTINA). Roman, 150 CE. London: British Museum.
- Apotheosis in marble relief of Faustina and Antoninus Pius (replica). Mainz, Landesmuseum.
- Lifesize Statue in marble (body type of the large Herculanensis in Dresden Museum) of the deified empress, perhaps in the guise of Ceres. Roman, 140-160 CE, from Turkey. Malibu, Getty Villa.
- Portrait bust, marble. Roman mid-2nd century CE. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
- Portrait head in marble, with her distinctive hairstyle (side view). 140 CE. Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.
- Portrait head in Luna marble, c. 138 CE. Found on the Esquiline. Rome, Capitoline Museum.
- Portrait bust in marble. 2nd century CE. Rome, Palazzo Nuovo (Capitoline Museums).
- Portrait bust in marble (posthumous). 150 CE. Rome, Altemps Museum.
Domitia Lucilla (?-155/161 CE); mother of Marcus Aurelius (Emperor 161-180)
- Portrait head of marble; side view. 2nd centiury CE. Ostia Museum.
Faustina II, Annia Galeria (c. 129-175 CE), Augusta; daughter of Antoninus Pius and Faustina I, bride of Marcus Aurelius (in 149 CE), mother of Commodus; first to be awarded the title Mater castrorum
- Portrait bust, marble, as a girl. From Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli. Rome 147-8 CE. Capitoline Museum.
- Coin portrait on a bronze sestertius, inscribed: FAVSTINAE AVG[ustae] PII AVG[usti] FIL[iae]. Roman, c. 145 CE. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
- Coin portrait on an aureus, inscribed: FAVSTINAE AVG[ustae] PII AVG[usti] FIL[iae]. Copenhagen, National Museum.
- Wedding coin, an aureus commemorating the wedding (iunctio dextrarum with Juno ? as pronuba between them) of Faustina II and Marcus Aurelius. Inscribed: VOTA PVBLICA. Copenhagen, National Museum.
- Coin showing empress as Juno Regina on a sestertius, holding a patera and scepter, with a peacock at her feet. Mint of Rome, 161-175 CE. Berlin, Pergamon Museum.
- Portrait bust in marble. Capitoline Museums: Palazzo Nuovo, Rome.
- Portrait head in marble. Her hairstyle is familiar: parted in the center, her hair is gathered in waves into a bun on her neck (side view). Roman. 162 CE. Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.
- Marble statue. Veiled and wearing the stola of the matrona and a palla, she holds a scroll and a globe in each hand. Rome, 160 CE. Rome: Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (National Museums).
Lucilla, Annia Aurelia Galeria (148-182 CE), Augusta; daughter of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina II, sister of Commodus, bride of the co-Emperor Lucius Verus (164 CE)
- Statue of marble, full-size, veiled by her mantle and dressed in a tunic belted with a Herakles knot. 161-9 CE. Rome, Capitoline Museums.
- Coin portrait on a bronze sestertius, inscribed: LVCILLA AVGVSTA. Rome, 164-169 CE. Getty Villa.
- Coin portrait on a sestertius inscribed: LVCILLAE AVG[ustae] ANTONINI AVG[usti] F[ilia]. Rome, 164-166 CE. Berlin, Pergamon Museum.
- Bust in marble (either Lucilla or Faustina II). From Cyrene (North Africa), c. 162-70 CE. London: British Museum.
Crispina Bruttia (2nd century CE), wife of Commodus (177 CE)
- Portrait head of marble (side). 180-187 CE. Rome, Capitoline Museums.
- Portrait bust in marble (side). c. 180 CE. Copenhagen, NY Carlsberg Glyptotek.
- Full-size statue in marble, as the goddess Ceres (the face resembles Crispina), holding an ear of corn and poppies in her left hand, wearing a Greek chiton and himation (angle). 180-190 CE. Copenhagen, NY Carlsberg Glyptotek.
Manlia Scantilla (2nd century CE), Augusta; wife of Didius Julianus
- Coin portrait on an aureus, inscribed: MANL[ia] SCANTILLA AVG[usta]. Rome, 193 CE. NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Julia Domna (c. 170-218 CE), Augusta; bride of Septimius Severus (in 187 CE), mother of Caracalla and Geta, named Mater castrorum (in 211 CE)
- Portrait head in marble with frontal view of her distinctive hairdo. c. 195 CE Munich, Glyptothek.
- Portrait head in marble with side view of her distinctive hairdo. Aalen, Limesmuseum.
- Full-size statue in marble, in the guise of Ceres holding fruit in her left hand. Early 3rd century CE. Ostia Museum.
- Pudicitia, the female virtue of modesty, is portrayed on the reverse of a denarius of Julia Domna containing on the obverse a portrait of the empress with the inscription IVLIA AVGVSTA. Here the goddess is seated, holding in her left hand a scepter, her right hand modestly covering her breast. 207-209 CE. Berlin, Pergamon Museum.
- Coin portrait on an aureus of Septimius Severus inscribed: IVLIA DOMNA AVG[usta]. 193-196 CE. Rome, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (National Museums).
- Coin portrait on an aureus, inscribed: IVLIA DOMNA AVG[usta] Rome, 193-196 CE. NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Painting of the imperial family: the empresss with Septimius Severus, Caracalla, and the obscured Geta, murdered by his brother. Roman, tempera on wood, found in Egypt, c. 200 CE. Berlin, Altes Museum.
Plautilla (2nd-3rd century CE), Augusta, wife of Caracalla
- Coin portrait on a silver denarius, inscribed: PLAVTILLAE AVGVSTAE. Rome, 202-205 CE. NY Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Coin portrait on a silver denarius, inscribed: PLAVTILLA AVGVSTA. Rome, 202-205 CE. Getty Villa.
- Portrait head of marble. Rome, 202-205 CE. Getty Villa.
- Portrait head of marble, the empress as a child. Rome, 202-205 CE. Rome: Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (National Museums).
Julia Soaemias Bassiana (d. 222 CE), Augusta; mother of the Emperor Elagabulus, titles: Mater Augustorum, Mater castrorum
- Coin portrait on a silver denarius, inscribed: IVLIA SOAEMIAS AVG. Rome, 218-222 CE. Getty Villa.
Julia Aquilia Severa (3rd century CE), Vestal Virgin, forced to marry Emperor Elagabalus (in 219 CE)
- Head of marble. Highly veristic portrait. The torso is probably not original. c. 220-222 CE. New York: Fordham University Collection.
Annia Aurelia Faustina (3rd century CE), third wife of Emperor Elagabalus (in 221CE)
- Portrait Head in marble, found in Rome, Via Labicana. First half of 3rd century CE.
Julia Mamaea (? -235 CE), Augusta; niece of Julia Domna, younger daughter of Julia Maesa, regent and mother of Severus Alexander (Emperor 222-235)
- Marble bust of the empress, draped, with her distinctive hairstyle. Rome, 192-235 CE. London, British Museum.
- Marble head of the empress. 222-235 CE. NY, Metropolitan Museum.
- Marble bust of the empress. 222-225 CE. Rome, Capitoline Museum.
- Coin portrait on an orichalcum sestertius of Alexander Severus, inscribed (partially worn): IVLIA MAMAEA AVGVSTA. Rome, 222-235 CE. NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Bronze medal portraying the empress on a throne, with an attendant nearby; inscribed: MATR[I?] AVGVSTI ET CASTRORVM. 224-235 CE. Berlin, Charlottenburg Museum.
- Bronze medallion (obverse) with the facing heads of Julia Mamaea and her son, Emperor Alexander Severus, encircled by the inscription IMP ALEXANDER PIUS AUG JULIA MAMAEA AUG MATER AUG. Rome 231-235 CE. Copenhagen, National Gallery.
Tranquillina, Furia Sabinia (225-after 244 CE), Augusta; wife of Gordian III (Emperor 238-244 CE).
- Marble head. Found in Poggio Sommavilla. c. 250 CE. Rome: Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (National Museums).
Etruscilla, Annia Cupressenia Herennia (c. 230 CE), Augusta; wife of Trajan Decius (Emperor 249-251 CE), mother of Herennius Etruscus and Hostilian (Emperors 251 CE).
- Marble head. Found in Via Appia Nuova. c. 250 CE. Rome: Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (National Museums).
Salonina, Cornelia (mid-3rd century CE), Augusta; wife of Galienus (Emperor 253-268), mother of Valerian II
- Marble head. 250-260 CE. Rome: Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (National Museums) Museum.
Fausta, Flavia Maxima (289/90-324/25 CE), Augusta; daughter of Maximian and Eutropia, bride of Constantine I (in 307 CE)
- Coin portrait on a gold solidus, inscribed: FLAV[ia] MAX[ima] FAVSTA AVG[usta]. Ticinum, 324/5 CE. NY Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Full-size statue in Proconnesian marble, portraying the empress fully draped, crowned, veiled, and standing in the Pudicitia pose. 4th century CE. Ostia museum.
Helena, Flavia Julia (? -327 CE), Augusta; mother of Constantine I
- Coin portrait on a bronze nummus, inscribed: FL[avia] HELENA AVGVSTA. Cyzicus, 324/5 CE. NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Portrait head, marble, dates to 320-3 CE (from the Vatican); inserted into the statue of a reclining woman dated to the 2nd century CE. Rome: Capitoline Museum.

EMPIRE

War Captives: Relief cast of a scene from the marble column of Trajan in which women and children beg submission from the emperor. Rome, c. 108-113 CE. EUR, Museum of Roman Civilization.
Female Mask, perhaps of an Amazon, bronze (smaller version). Masks like these were worn by cavalry soldiers in parades. Found on a skeleton's face in a tomb at Nola, So. Italy, 2 century CE. London, British Museum.
Epitaph for Agrippina I on a large marble block probably from Augustus' mausoleum, where her son Caligula, when he became emperor in 37 CE, had her ashes transferred from Pandateria where she was exiled and starved herself to death in 33 CE. Inscription: OSSA/ AGRIPPINAE M[ARCI] AGRIPPAE/ DIVI AVG[usti] NEPTIS VXORIS/ GERMANICI CAESARIS/ MATRIS C[aii] CAESARIS AVG[usti]/ GERMANICI PRINCIPIS (CIL 6.886). A cavity (not visible) on top once held the urn with her ashes. Rome: Museo Nuovo, Palazzo dei Conservatori.

THE WORLD OF STATE

Inscriptions

IMAGES of STATE

REPUBLIC

IMPERIAL WOMEN

EMPIRE

REPUBLIC

IMPERIAL WOMEN

EMPIRE